How bout bears. Are there any in that area ? If there are, I don't know how you blokes can sleep !

Sorry, I missed this earlier. But tsquared is exactly right. If you look carefully, at about 3:30 in the video, you'll see a white rope dangling behind my tent. On the other end of that rope is my food bag. Way up high out of the picture. The other thing is that my island wasn't very big, and it was a ways away from the mainland. Bears wouldn't have stayed on that island during the summer months because there wasn't as much food there. But that didn't stop me from wearing my bear bell every time nature called!

I know that a few guys on the mainland had trouble sleeping that weekend because of some big rustling in the woods near them, but it turned out to be moose.

If you hang your food, you're usually pretty safe from bears. They have so much natural food that they aren't going to work extra hard for stuff hanging in a tree. But people have been attacked and killed on this lake by bears. It's REALLY rare, and if you take precautions, you're usually pretty safe.

NOHUHU wrote:

I'm thinking that bullmoose could outpaddle him too.

Now that would make for an interesting video.

That was my fear!! I would have been quicker if the moose was swimming, but if he could get any kind of run going, that wouldn't have been good for me! But the moose in this area see kayaks and canoes as part of the natural habitat. They won't attack unless they feel threatened.

The bear would be my fear. Spiders and snakes are childsplay compared to bears. Crocs aren’t anywhere near us which is a good thing. Sharks are, but with sharks it's curiosity and if a shark does bite, it will usually then go. OK, admittedly it's one hell of a bite but they don't really seem to like human flesh.

From what I've seen, a bear starts at the little toe and finishes when he's full. Usually around the neck area.

Augaug ... are you feeling nostalgic about your AI? I know you sold it (I had thought of purchasing it) and bought the Bravo. I liked seeing the AI 'broken down' into kayak mode. I have rented an AI several times but have never used it as a kayak.

I canoed in Algonquin park throughout my adolescence. One year some young boys were mauled (and tragically were killed) by a bear when they 'played dead' with the fish they had caught hidden in their pockets ... deadly mistake!

I should point out that there are only Black Bears in Algonquin Park. By nature, Black Bears won't hunt or track humans, only the VERY VERY rare one with a screw loose would do that. Most black bears are afraid of humans. Most cases of injury, or even death are from people who either get between a black bear and their young, or leave food in a tent, and the bear tries to get into the tent. These aren't Grizzly bears. There is a case in this park, AGES ago where a black bear with a screw loose acted predatory and killed a couple, but this is a HUGE park, and there haven't been any cases like that in a long long time.

Statistically, the most dangerous thing that I did that weekend was drive on the roads to that park.

Oh, I loved the Adventure Island!! But I spent most of my time sailing it and wanted a more traditional boat, (that could tip) and went with the Bravo. I got such a good deal on the Bravo, it was too hard to turn down. I'm now saving my pennies for a Wave someday!

We now have an Oasis tandem kayak, so I'm still able to kayak with my wife (as we would when I had the Adventure Island and my wife had the Revolution) and I'm able to sail the Bravo. So really, we do the same things. I sail on my own, or we kayak together, it's just a different combination of boats to accomplish the same thing.

The Adventure Island was the perfect boat for things like this, and it's a GREAT kayak. To me, the Adventure is the best kayak in the Hobie lineup. The Revolution and the Revolution 11 are great for storage and car topping because they are smaller, but the Adventure is by far my favourite kayak on the water. My wife would rather have the Revo, but she also likes the Oasis a lot, as long as she doesn't have to solo it.

I hadn't seen that video. You guys have a LOT more scary animals down there. Where I camp, bears are the worst, but they're mostly scared of humans. In some areas there are rattlesnakes, but thankfully I haven't had to deal with any of those yet, and they won't come after you, you have to accidentally step too close to one of them for it to be a danger.

On another note, that meal sure looked good!! A lot better than what I usually end up eating!!

I currently have an AI at a cottage near Barry's Bay, about 45km from Algonquin. Last summer, my wife and I backpacked for a couple days near the Mew Lake area; it was our first trip into Algonquin. Your video intrigued me about doing a similar trip. I'm curious where you put in and what the portages were like. Is it possible to cart the AI or are the portages too long or is the terrain too rough, because carrying an AI and gear would be way too tough. Also, is this a trip you would consider doing again with a companion? I'm a male teacher (Craig) from Texas, 52 years old, in good shape with extensive bicycling, backpacking, and canoeing experience. I have an AI and a TI, though the TI stays in Texas. I'd prefer to do this with my wife but she's a nurse and her time off is limited. I'm a bit hesitant to head into Algonguin alone as you did since I'm still pretty much a rookie in that park. Let me know and thanks.

I launched from Lake Opeongo, so the trip didn't require any portages at all. That was one of the reasons that I liked this trip. I also cheated... it wasn't totally desolate, there is a water taxi (motorboat that moves Canoes and their gear) running from the Opeongo Store, up through the north arm. It runs a couple of times a day, at LEAST. Since this was my first solo trip, and at the time, I just had a newborn daughter at home, I made sure that I had access back. If I had any injury, or equipment failure, I would have been able to flag down a water taxi and get myself and my gear home. Thankfully that wasn't required.

As far as doing the trip again, or something similar, I'm considering another trip there this spring, or early summer. I'd consider doing the same trip again, but I don't have my AI anymore. I'd be doing it in an Oasis tandem (using it solo, with space to hold gear). The Oasis with standard fins is a much slower boat than an Adventure with Turbos, so it might be awkward to do that trip together. But I'd be open to doing something like this with someone else. Send me an email or PM if you're interested, and we'll see what happens.

I recently bought a custom made kayak cart with bicycle tires from a local manufacturer, and I'm thinking that it should allow me to go on some of the easier portage routes in the park, as long as they're not too long or violent. The Hobie carts won't work very well on most of the portage routes in Algonquin. I don't think you could portage a full AI anywhere in the park, but an Adventure, with two people to help carry, over short portages should be very do-able.

We did our honeymoon in Ontario in June 1971 in a canoe. Camped on a similar small island. In my opinion the animals we feared most were not bears but mosquitos and black flies. Was my first camping trip ever. Tent was army surplus with no zipper -- just some string ties. After the first miserable night we realized that we had brought an emergency sewing kit. Thereafter we sewed ourselves inside the tent every evening just before the loud humming cloud descended over all of Ontario. Great trip. Still married -- now with a TI.

I know that mosquito cloud you speak of. Not in Canada but in the Hebrides off the Scottish mainland. They were midgies, tiny mozzies the size of a pin head, bit like a pin prick as well and they could easily get in through tent insect mesh. The swarms at night were so thick we were breathing them in and in fact it was a bit frightening. We just couldn't escape.

P.S. augaug's vid is now a well deserved member of Hobies Favorite Videos. Well done augaug.

In my opinion the animals we feared most were not bears but mosquitos and black flies.

Yeah, That's true! I wore a bug shirt every evening. They're awesome. My hands weren't protected, and this is what they looked like after the first night. The picture doesn't show it all that well, but I'm just glad that my whole body didn't have 5 bites per square inch!!